Startup macbook pro: Blue mac logo and spinning wheel followed by grey screen

Hi all,
I was using my macbook pro from 2012 with OS X Lion installed when I got a frozen screen with blue lines.
I held down the power button to restart the computer and when rebooting, the first thing I noticed was that at the startup, the Apple logo and the spinning wheel were kind of blue, a very light blue, just like the rest of the screen.
The wheel would spin for a while and then the screen would turn off for less than a second and come back completely grey. Once I got the grey screen, the computer would get stuck there and not do anything else.
I've already tried resetting the SMC, resetting the NVRAM and a safe boot won't work, I get the same grey screen when trying the safe mode.
On top of that, the recovery mode is also not working. Even if I hold "option" and select recovery HD, I still get the same grey screen.
Can anybody please help?

That's what I thought.
You have the problem as discussed in this -> https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4766577?tstart=0 - thread. It's quite common on 2011 15" and 17" machines. Basically, you have a faulty soldering of the GPU onto the logic board and the bonding is actually coming apart. If you take the time to read just a few of the posts in the thread, you'll see that many have experienced graphics glitches at first and then finally the computer will not even boot. I had this happen myself.
If you're still under AppleCare, Apple will replace the logic board free. If not, they will want you to pay for a new logic board. Unfortunately these 'new' logic boards don't fix the problem as some users have had logic boards replaced 3-4 times before, finally, being offered a replacement.
The best way to 'fix' the problem, at present, is to have the GPU reballed onto the logic board. It costs less than a logic board is a genuine 'fix'.
Read some of the posts in the thread - ask any questions you may have there. I'm almost certain that this is the same problem.
Good luck,
Clinton
MacBook Pro (15-inch Late 2011), OS Mavericks 10.9.4, 16GB Crucial RAM, Crucial M500 960GB SSD, 27” Apple Thunderbolt Display

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My Macbook Pro shows the apple and spinning wheel at start up but won't continue startup. Any Help would be appreciated.

My Macbook Pro shows the Apple and spinning wheel at startup but will not continue the startup. Does anybody know how to get past this, so the computer continues to startup?

Take each of these steps that you haven't already tried. Stop when the problem is resolved.
Step 1
The first step in dealing with a boot failure is to secure your data. If you want to preserve the contents of the startup drive, and you don't already have at least one current backup, you must try to back up now, before you do anything else. It may or may not be possible. If you don't care about the data that has changed since your last backup, you can skip this step.
There are several ways to back up a Mac that is unable to boot. You need an external hard drive to hold the backup data.
a. Boot into the Recovery partition, or from a local Time Machine backup volume (option key at startup.) When the OS X Utilities screen appears, launch Disk Utility and follow the instructions in this support article, under “Instructions for backing up to an external hard disk via Disk Utility.”
b. If you have access to a working Mac, and both it and the non-working Mac have FireWire or Thunderbolt ports, boot the non-working Mac in target disk mode. Use the working Mac to copy the data to another drive. This technique won't work with USB, Ethernet, Wi-Fi, or Bluetooth.
c. If the internal drive of the non-working Mac is user-replaceable, remove it and mount it in an external enclosure or drive dock. Use another Mac to copy the data.
Step 2
If the startup process stops at a blank gray screen with no Apple logo or spinning "daisy wheel," then the startup volume may be full. If you had previously seen warnings of low disk space, this is almost certainly the case. The easiest way to deal with the problem is to boot from an external drive, or else to use either of the techniques in Steps 1b and 1c to mount the internal drive and delete some files. According to Apple documentation, you need at least 9 GB of available space on the startup volume (as shown in the Finder Info window) for normal operation.
Step 3
Sometimes a boot failure can be resolved by resetting the NVRAM.
Step 4
If you use a wireless keyboard, trackpad, or mouse, replace or recharge the batteries. The battery level shown in the Bluetooth menu item may not be accurate.
Step 5
If there's a built-in optical drive, a disc may be stuck in it. Follow these instructions to eject it.
Step 6
Press and hold the power button until the power shuts off. Disconnect all wired peripherals except those needed to boot, and remove all aftermarket expansion cards. Use a different keyboard and/or mouse, if those devices are wired. If you can boot now, one of the devices you disconnected, or a combination of them, is causing the problem. Finding out which one is a process of elimination.
Step 7
If you've booted from an external storage device, make sure that your internal boot volume is selected in the Startup Disk pane of System Preferences.
Boot in safe mode. Note: If FileVault is enabled, or if a firmware password is set, or if the boot volume is a software RAID, you can’t do this. Post for further instructions.
Safe mode is much slower to boot and run than normal, and some things won’t work at all, including wireless networking on certain Macs.
The login screen appears even if you usually log in automatically. You must know your login password in order to log in. If you’ve forgotten the password, you will need to reset it before you begin.
When you boot in safe mode, it's normal to see a dark gray progress bar on a light gray background. If the progress bar gets stuck for more than a few minutes, or if the system shuts down automatically while the progress bar is displayed, your boot volume is corrupt and the drive is probably malfunctioning. In that case, go to Step 6.
If you can boot and log in now, empty the Trash, and then open the Finder Info window on your boot volume ("Macintosh HD," unless you gave it a different name.) Check that you have at least 9 GB of available space, as shown in the window. If you don't, copy as many files as necessary to another volume (not another folder on the same volume) and delete the originals. Deletion isn't complete until you empty the Trash again. Do this until the available space is more than 9 GB. Then reboot as usual (i.e., not in safe mode.)
If the boot process hangs again, the problem is likely caused by a third-party system modification that you installed. Post for further instructions.
Step 8
Launch Disk Utility in Recovery mode (see Step 1.) Select your startup volume, then run Repair Disk. If any problems are found, repeat until clear. If Disk Utility reports that the volume can't be repaired, the drive has malfunctioned and should be replaced. You might choose to tolerate one such malfunction in the life of the drive. In that case, erase the volume and restore from a backup. If the same thing ever happens again, replace the drive immediately.
This is one of the rare situations in which you should also run Repair Permissions, ignoring the false warnings it may produce. Look for the line "Permissions repair complete" at the end of the output. Then reboot as usual.
Step 9
Reinstall the OS. If your Mac was upgraded from an older version of OS X, you’ll need the Apple ID and password you used to upgrade.
Step 10
Repeat Step 9, but this time erase the boot volume in Disk Utility before installing. The system should automatically reboot into the Setup Assistant. Follow the prompts to transfer your data from a Time Machine or other backup.
Step 11
This step applies only to models that have a logic-board ("PRAM") battery: all Mac Pro's and some others (not current models.) Both desktop and portable Macs used to have such a battery. The logic-board battery, if there is one, is separate from the main battery of a portable. A dead logic-board battery can cause a boot failure. Typically the failure will be preceded by loss of the settings for the startup disk and system clock. See the user manual for replacement instructions. You may have to take the machine to a service provider to have the battery replaced.
Step 12
If you get this far, you're probably dealing with a hardware fault. Make a "Genius" appointment at an Apple Store, or go to another authorized service provider.

My macbook wont reboot apple logo and spinning wheel thats it.

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Apple logo and spinning wheel is different than the need to restart your computer message.
See this Apple note on the spinning wheel at boot. If you are running OS X 10.7 or later, then rebooting with the command and r keys will get you into recovery mode, where you can use Disk Utility to repair the hard drive.
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The startup disk may need repairing.
Use Lion Recovery
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If you want to preserve the data on the boot drive, and it's not already backed up, you must try to back up now, before you do anything else. It may or may not be possible. If you don't care about the data, you can skip this step.
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Thanks for the reply Dale.
I have just tried that and Disk Utility said my MAc HD appears to be ok....????
So I don't really understand what else I can do...
I tried using Onyx a couple of months ago but it seemed to make things worse and more temperamental.
If there is a next level of solutions I could try it would be much appreciated.
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Verify permissions for “Macintosh HD”
Reading permissions database.
Reading the permissions database can take several minutes.
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Permissions differ on "Applications/iTunes.app/Contents/Frameworks/InternetUtilities.bundle/Contents/ CodeResources", should be -rw-rw-r-- , they are lrw-rw-r-- .
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Owen

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=======================================
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Boot to the Recovery HD:
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<Edited by Host>

What other solutions have you tried?
This may help you:
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Ciao.

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After the 4 hours or so it said restore successful and a restart was required - after the restart I am presented with the apple logo and spinning wheel and can make no progress beyond this point.
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Hey andrew1878,
Thanks for the question. I understand that you are experiencing issues with your MacBook not loading up past the Apple Logo and spinning gear. The following resource may provide a solution:
Mac OS X: Gray screen appears during startup
http://support.apple.com/kb/TS2570
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My wife did a software update and them it asked for a restart, she click restart but the computer got stuck in apple logo and spinning wheel. Won't go past that now. Just keeps spinning! Help for I know not what to do!!!! Please any idea?

An invalid node is an error DU cannot repair. If you don't mind spending $100 for Disk Warrior, then I suggest you buy it because it can fix the error. Otherwise, do as the warning says. Backup your files. You will then have to erase the drive and reinstall. The procedure is:
Install or Reinstall Lion/Mountain Lion from Scratch
Be sure you backup your files to an external drive or second internal drive because the following procedure will remove everything from the hard drive.
Boot to the Recovery HD:
Restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the COMMAND and R keys until the menu screen appears. Alternatively, restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the OPTION key until the boot manager screen appears. Select the Recovery HD and click on the downward pointing arrow button.
Erase the hard drive:
1. Select Disk Utility from the main menu and click on the Continue button.
2. After DU loads select your startup volume (usually Macintosh HD) from the
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4. Quit DU and return to the main menu.
Reinstall Lion: Select Reinstall Lion/Mountain Lion and click on the Install button.
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Hi there,
I have recently had a problem with my iMac - it started with distorted graphics and I booted into Safe Boot to back up all files with the intention of reinstalling OS X (either from original install CDs or from USB drive with Mountain Lion on). Safe Boot got rid of the distorted graphics but as I rebooted to reinstall, the iMac hung on the spinning wheel on a grey screen with the Apple logo.
I have tried (in no particular order) : resetting PRAM and SMC, booting from original install CDs, booting from the self-created Mountain Lion USB stick, booting into Safe Boot again, booting normally, taking out keyboard/mouse and booting normally... the pinwheel either freezes, the iMac reboots itself, or comes up with a screen telling me to reboot due to a problem. If I hold down command-V at startup it always freezes/fails at the same point and there's usually a previous shutdown cause of 3 or -128?!
I don't seem to be able to run the hardware test either from DVD or internet, I can boot into single user mode and the iMac will stay up for hours but I don't know what to look at or what to fix! There are kernel panic logs relating to some of the shutdowns but as I can't view these out of single-user mode I can't attach them to the post but can look & reply on another machine.
It's an early 2008 iMac, 24" screen, running OS X 10.8.2 - I'd appreciate any help and will try to provide any extra information anyone needs (that I can glean from single user mode, anyway!)
Kind regards,
Carly

I've looked at that, I did try to link the discussion to the article but it failed too Thank you though.
I just created an Ubuntu DVD to run - the graphics are distorted on that too so I'm guessing it's a fault with the graphics card. I don't have the knowledge to confirm/deny it so a trip to an Apple Store is probably in order?

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After downloading latest versions of Safari, OSX, and iTunes suggested via software update, a message stating that not all software (iTunes) instatlled. Restart resulted in the Apple logo and spinning wheel and never continued to completion. A hardware test using supplied disc resulted in a pass for tests run. I cannot boot the software restore disc when restarting and holding down C key. Anyone experience something similar? Any guidance would be appreciated.

Hi-
Welcome to Discussions!
Try a Safe mode boot (hold Shift while booting).
Safe mode boots take longer, so be patient.
If successful, at the login window, click Restart, and allow a normal boot.

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